Residents of Grand County were reminded last month that winter is never far off in the high country.

Late spring snowstorms dumped several inches of heavy wet snow across the Colorado Rockies including 31 inches of snowfall at the Glacier Basin Campground in Rocky Mountain National Park. While the snowfall was a welcome addition of moisture to the Colorado River Basin, it snarled a construction project at the Byers Canyon Shooting Range and has delayed the full opening of the range for several weeks.

While portions of the shooting range area are currently open, officials from Colorado Parks and Wildlife plan to continue limiting access to the range until early June when crews are expected to complete several upgrades on the facility.

Work on the project includes installation of new shooting benches, the addition of four rifle firing lanes, one new 50-yard shooting lane for .22 rifles, and two additional handgun lanes including one new 100-yard handgun lane.

“We’ve had a stretch of heavy snowfall and rain and it’s limited what we can do,” CPW Property Technician Doug Gillham said. “But once the mud is dry, we will work hard to meet our new time line. Until then, we ask everyone for their cooperation and patience.

Gillham noted officers from Parks and Wildlife will be patrolling the range at regular intervals to ensure citizens are not violating the facility’s restrictions.